Shining Lights reflects the work by Black women photographers active in the UK during the 1980s and 1990s. Editors are Joy Gregory and Taous Dahmani. Edited and researched by Joy Gregory, alongside art historian Taous Dahmani.
Roshini Kempadoo has contributed an essay entitled: Doing it All Again: Re-imagining Blackness, Memory, and History, a joint portfolio with Claudette Holmes around their exhibition Womaness (1990), in addition to other photographs featured. First-hand experiences and critical reflections are provided by new writings by pioneers of the period, including Pratibha Parmar, Roshini Kempadoo, and Symrath Patti, alongside a foreword by Sonia Boyce. Taous Dahmani’s concluding essay provides a summary of key issues from an art historical perspective.
The work created during this period spanned documentary and conceptual practices, including the experimental use of photomontage, self-portraiture, staged imagery, and photography in dialogue with other media.
Amongst the fifty-seven photographers included are Roshini Kempadoo, Maxine Walker, Ingrid Pollard, Claudette Holmes, Mohini Chandra, Carole Wright, Sutapa Biswas, Maud Sulter, Brenda Agard, Anita McKenzie, Mitra Tabrizian, Poulomi Desai, Virginia Nimarkoh, Nudrat Afza, Merle Van den Bosch, and Eileen Perrier.
Co-published with Autograph, London. Find out more on the MACK website.
Book launch
Join Autograph for the launch of Shining Lights: Black Women Photographers in 1980s-90s Britain at Autograph ABP on Thursday 22nd February 2024. Find out more here.
